Data for Anterior Plating Technique for Distal Radius: Comparing performance after learning through naive versus deliberate practice

The objective of this article is to compare the progression in learning curves of junior surgeons trained in the anterior plating technique for the distal radius on a non-biological model according to three different methods.
The materials comprised 12 junior surgeons of level 1 or 2 divided into three groups: control (G1), naive practice (G2) and deliberate practice (G3).
The three groups watched a demonstration video of a level 5 expert. The four G1 surgeons (two level 1 and two level 2) saw the video only once and each inserted five plates. The four G2 surgeons (two level 1 and two level 2) inserted five plates and watched the video before each time. The four G3 surgeons (two level 1 and two level 2) saw the video before the first plate insertion. Before posing the subsequent four plates, the four G3 surgeons watched their own video and the expert indicated their errors and how to avoid them next time.
A 12-criteria OSATS defined on the basis of the 60 videos, each graded from 1 (min.) to 5 (max.) was used to measure the objective surgical performance per plating (min. 12; max. 60) and per series of five plate fixations (min. 60, max. 300).
Our results show that deliberate practice is a learning technique for surgical procedures which allows the growth phase of the learning curve to be shortened and the objective performance of junior surgeons to be improved.